A Wing and a Prayer: A Message of Faith and Hope

by Donna Freitas, Religion BookLine -- Publishers Weekly, 12/20/2006

Katharine Jefferts Schori cuts an imposing figure as she crosses the room to shake my hand. But her smile and gracious manner quickly whisk away any nervousness about sitting down to talk to the recently installed presiding bishop of the Protestant Episcopal Church—the first woman ever to hold this position—and author of A Wing and a Prayer (Morehouse, Feb.). Her new book is a collection of sermons-turned-essays and a way of allowing the wider public to get to know her better, she told RBL.

"One task for all Christian denominations of our age is recontextualizing the gospel," said Jefferts Schori about the issues addressed in the collection. "If ours is going to be a living faith, we need to tell the Good News in forms, idioms, language and images that people of all generations can connect with. Even the reformer Martin Luther set hymns to the bar tunes of his day."

Flying is also a passion for both Jefferts Schori, a pilot, and her daughter, Katharine Johanna, a second lieutenant and pilot in the U.S. Air Force, and flying informs many of the book's sermons and essays. "Flying is a spiritual experience for me—a reminder of who I am as a creature in relation to the creator," she explained. "It is both a discipline and a retreat."

Though A Wing and a Prayer may make popular reading for many congregants, Jefferts Schori is also confident that many colleagues will avoid getting to know her through the collection. "I am sure that some fellow presiding bishops will be curious enough to read it before the primates' meeting in February in Tanzania, but others will likewise stay away," she said. "It is not a classic theological text and therefore will probably be a challenge to some. Though the fact that it is not presented in an academic form will perhaps be a gift to some readers."

While she counts several good friends among the 38 primates in the worldwide Anglican Communion, Jefferts Schori is prepared to meet those offended that a woman has been elected to her post. "Some are sufficiently upset that they don't want to sit at the same table with me, so we'll see what happens," she said. "The wonderful gift in all of this is that Jesus invited everyone to sit at the table and be fed—a vision we could hold up for this very occasion."

Heading up the American branch of the Anglican Church is Bishop Jefferts Schori's second career. Her first was as an oceanographer—also the time when she raised a family. She counts both her husband and daughter as affectionately proud and "enormously supportive" of her new position.